Amalgamator.



No.4 890,010'. PATBNTBD JUNE 9, 1908. E. G. ZIEGLER. l

AMALGAMATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13. i907. 3 SHEETS- SHEET l.

L Q I I;

kb W N w Q5 N w" m Sg F l@ w N Q 5 QB c@ N f# N 11:-;1' K NN w q WWA/5555. 5@ EMMZZCZZWW l/vn/vo/e W [By M ATTORNEYS PATENTED'JUNB 9, 1908.

' 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

/A/l/P/VTOA7 A TTU/9N@ Ys E. 0i ZIEGLBR. AMALGAMATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13, 1907.

. L oo 0 m 9 E .l H l S 9 E T w m J u D E T N E T A P 7 0 9 1 .mm3 RON ETA LAM GMD ...D E IAL ZGH .LN GAMnm T EAM I L P P A v A TTU/m5 ys unire sravrs rarnnr onirica.

EMILLOUS C. ZIEGLER, OF GENTRALIA, WASHINGTON.

AMALGAMATOR.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, EMILLoUs C. ZIEGLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Centralia, in the county of Lewis and State of Vashington, have invented a new and useful Amalgamator, of which the following is a speciiication.

This invention has reference to improvements in amalgamators, and its object is to produce a machine wherein sand or gravel bearing precious metals will be brought into contact with quicksilver or mercury and be carried over a number of bodies of quicksilver or mercury and iinally discharged in such manner that the mercury or amalgam which may from any cause be carried out at the iinal discharge opening, will be caught and saved, and where necessary the water used in the operation of the machine may be again utilizedby being carried tothe initial point of the machine.

In the amalgamation of precious metals by passing sands or gravels containing them over beds of mercury or quicksilver it is custom ary to cause the sand or gravel to pass over such beds of mercury by means of a stream of water.

The present invention is designed to work on this principle and it consists essentially in providing a number of revolving drums arranged horizontally and each connected through its axis to the next succeeding drum, said drums being provided with longitudinal ribs which will cause the continual agitation oi the mercury bath and the sand or gravel in contact therewith while the drum is being revolved, but which will not interfere with the discharge oi' the mass by the onflow of the water from one drum into another, although provision may be made for assisting the discharge of the mass from one drum to the next drum by the employment ol suitable worms or con-veyers.

The invention further consists in a means whereby the sand or gravel by which the precious metals have been removed by amalgamation with the mercury shall be discharged into areceptacle Jfrom which the sand or gravel is elevated by a suitable worm or conveyer, and between the iinal discharge end of the drum or drums and this sand or gravel elevator there is provided a receptacle into which any free mercury or any amalgam will gravitate and thus be saved from being iinally lost by being carried away by the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 13, 1907.

Patented June 9, 1908.

Serial No. 373,395.

treated sand or gravel when ultimately disings forming part of this speciiicatiomin] which,M

Figure l is a side elevation, with parts in section, showing in more or less ,conventional form an amalgamating plant embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section illustrating the arrangement of the invention at the discharge end ofthe last amalgamatillg drum, with the compartment for receiving the tailings and for elevating the same to discharge them from the machine, Fig. 3 is an end view of one section of one of the drums 5 Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of one portion of one of the drums; Fig. 5 is an exterior view of one of the drums showing one manner of rotating the same; Fig. 6 is a sectional view showing a different ormof tailings discharge mechanism 'from that shown in Fig. 1 5 and Fig. 7 is a view of the charge end of the amalgamator showing the means lor diverting the incoming stream away from the amalgamator drums when so desired.

Referring to the drawings, there are shown amalgamator drums 1 approximately elliptical in shape and illustrated as composed of two parts bolted together by means oi' circumferential flanges radially extending from the meeting edges of the two halves of the drums. The drums at their small ends are connected by couplings 2 bolted thereto through flanges 3, and these couplings are mounted in suitable bearings 4 erected on trussed uprights 5, or in any other suitable manner. Adjacent to each journal 4 the coupling 2 carries exterior thereto a sprocket wheel over which passes a sprocket chain' coming from a sprocket pinion 8 iast on a shaft 9 running lengthwise through the several uprights or supports 5 and receiving power from any suitable source (not shown). The charging end of the series of drums 1 is shown in Fig. 7. In this iigure a pipe l() coming from a suitable source of water supply, which water is presumed to be already charged with the sand or gravel to be treated, connects directly with the first of the series of rotating drums 1. This pipe 10 may be provided with an offshoot 11 arranged to be normally closed by a valve 12 controlled by a valve-operating wheel 13 through the stem 14 and nut 15 engaging ran arm 16 coming from said valve 12, or any other suitable mechanism for the purpose may be used, that just described being simply indicative of any mechanism adapted for the purpose. By this means the water coming through the pipe 10 may be caused to flow directly into the first of the battery of amalgamating drums or may be diverted into the offshoot 11, as the case may be.

Each drum 1 has formed in its interior a series of longitudinal ribs 17 extending from the inlet end to the outlet end. It will be understood, of course, that each drum contains a suitable quantity of mercury or quicksilver, and when the mass of sand or gravel carried into the drum by the onflowing stream of water reaches the mercury the rotation of these drums by means of the sprocket chains 7 upon their longitudinal axes will cause the intimate mixture of the mercury and sand or gravel by the lifting action of the ribs 17. This takes place in the widest or deepest portion of the drums, and any metals which amalgamate with mercury will be recovered thereby from the sand or gravel bearing them. The oncoming stream of water will cause the treated sand or gravel to flow out through the discharge end of each drum into the receiving end of the nextsucceeding drum and so the sand or gravel will be again treated to the action of the mercury and any metals which may have escaped from the first drum will be caught by the second drum, and so on throughout as many drums as it may be thought advisable to use.

In order to assist in the discharging of the sand or gravel from the drums, they may have their exit ends provided with spiral flanges 18, as indicated in Fig. 4 where they are shown as formed on the interior of the drum, but these flanges should not extend quite to the middle of the drum from the exit end thereof. The last drum of the series may have a separately journaled, screwshaped conveyer 19, the shaft 20 of which has journal bearings 21 in a suitable spider support 22 on the side of the center of the drum toward the exit end thereof, and this shaft 20 and screw-conveyer 19 may pass into or even through the coupling 2 at the discharge end of the last drum. This lastnamed coupling 2 may be secured by a suitable screw collar 23 to the upper end of a downwardly-directed conduit 24 ending in a chamber 25 from which extends an upwardlycharge conduit 27. The shaft 2O extends t0 and through the outer wall of the conduit 24 and there carries a pinion 28 which, as shown in Fig. 1, may mesh with a gear wheel 29. Fast on the shaft of the gear wheel 29 there may be provided a bevel gear wheel 30 meshing with a bevel pinion 31 fast on an upright shaft 32 extending downward to the upright conduit 26 and stepped at its lower end7 as shown at 33, in the bottom of the chamber 25. This sh aft 32 carries an elevating worm 34 to be hereinafter referred to. At the bottom of the chamber 25 between the downward conduit 24 and the upward conduit 26 is a pocket 35 which may be provided near its upper end with a cut-off valve 36 under the control of a suitable lever 37 and at its bottom may be closed by a valve 38 provided with a suitable catch 39. N ow7 as the gravel or sand is carriedby the water stream through the several drums the precious metals are caught by the quicksilver and an amalgam is formed. From time to time this may be removed through suitable manholes 40. But more or less of the amalgam and some of the quicksilver is sometimes carried out from the last drum with the tailings and falls into the chamber 25. The amalgam being much heavier than the sand or gravel will gravitate into the pocket and to the bottom thereof and from time to time this may be removed by the suitable manipulation of the valves 36 and 38. Any free mercury may be restored to the system through a suitable funnel 41 in the pipe 10 adjacent to the first of the series of drums 1, and this funnel may be utilized for the original introduction of the mercury into the system.

Under some circumstances it may be desirable to omit the sprocket wheel 6 and apunder some circumstances to incline the conduit 26, as indicated in Fig. 6.

Where the water supply is scanty and it is advisable to re-use the water employed to carry the sand or gravel through the battery of drums, a siphon return pipe 42 will lead from the upright conduit 26 near the top thereof to a point in the pipe 10 sufficiently in advance of the first of the battery of drums so that it may be used to again force the sand and gravel through the system. In Figs. 1 and 2 this pipe 42 is indicated, and in Fig. 1 it is shown supported byuprights 43 rising from the standards 5. Usually the siphon return pipe will be employed with but a single drum cylinder and several drums will be used in series when there is plenty of water.

It will be observed that the process which the improved amalgamating structure is cadirected conduit 26 finally leading into a diss l pable of performing is a continuous process.

The material .to be treated is continuously introduced into the end of the` first cylinder, is there subjected to the action of quieksilver, the material is then continuously carried to the next cylinder to be there treated and directed into the next cylinder, and so on until 'finally the tailings are discharged in such manner that any valuable material carried with them is caught and saved before these tailings are finally disposed of.

The means for preventing the loss of either free quicksilver or amalgam which may be carried over from the last drum into the discharge portion of the structure is an important feature of my invention, and when the tailings are carried up by the elevating worm 34 any amalgam or mercury which may have become caught by the gravel will be loosened and because of its weight will quickly gravitate into the chamber 25 and iind its way into the pocket 35.

It will be understood, of course, that the drums 1 may be elliptical, as shown, or any other desired. shape adapted te the purposes of the invention.

It will be understood that in place of the sprocket chain drive shown, direct drive gearing may be used.

I claim l! l. An am algamator comprising a rotatable amalgamating drum, a chamber into which the drum discharges, means for elevating tailings from the drum to a point of exit, a pocket in the chamber for receiving amalgam or free mercury carried out of the drum by the tailings and means for closing the pocket to said chamber when the amalgam or free mercury is removed.

2. An amalgamator comprising a rotatable amalgamating drum, a chamber into which the drum discharges, means for elevating tailings from the drum te a point of exit, and a pocket in the chamber for receiving amalgam or free mercury carried out of the drum by the tailings, said pocket being provided with two spaced valves for permitting the removal of its contents.

An amalgamator comprising a rotatable amalgamating drum, a chamber into which the drum discharges, a screw elevator for elevating and disintegrating the tailings, and a pocket in said chamber offset with relation to the elevator and below the same, for collecting amalgam or free mercury contained in said tailings.

4. An amalgamator consisting of a rotal table drum of greatest diameter at the center l and gradually narrowing in diameter toward the inlet and outlet ends, longitudinal lifting ribs on the inner walls of the drum, and a worm conveyer extending from the widest portion of the drum to the exit opening, said from-the widest portion of the drum toward the exit opening.

5. An amalgamator comprising a rotatable drum, a chamber into which. the tailings from the drum are discharged, an elevator for lift- -ing the contents of the chamber to an exit opening, means for introducing water into said amalgamator, and means for returning the water to the receiving end of the amalgamater drum after it has been discharged from the exit end thereof.

6. An amalgamator comprising a rotatable drum having axial inlet and outlet openings, a discharge conduit for the drum extending first in a downward direction and then in an upward direction to the -point of exit and having a chamber at its lowermost corner, an elevating means in the upward limb of the discharge conduit, a pocket extending downward from the lowermost point of the chamber for receiving amalgam or free mercury carried from the drum by the tailings, and means for permitting the removal of the accumulated amalgam or mercury from the pocket without disturbing the contents of the chamber.

7. An amalgamator comprising a rotatable drum having longitudinally disposed ribs on its inner walls and provided with axial inlet and outlet openings, a worm conveyer extending from near the widest portion of said drum to the exit opening, a discharge conduit connected with the exit opening of the drum and extending 'first in a downward direction and then in an upward direction to the point of exit and including a receiving chamber at its lowermost point, a screw conveyer or worm in the upwardly extending limb of the discharge conduit, and a valved pocket at the lowermost point of the receiving chamber.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EMILLOUS C. ZIEGLER.

Vitn esses L. E. Monnis,

W. R. HUNTER.

conveyer progressively lessening in diameter 

